The Biggest Business & Marketing Stories of 2025

The sheer scale of investment in 2025 signaled that Charleston is no longer just a “mid-sized” market.

• Google’s $2B Power Move: Google committed $2 billion to two new data center campuses, cementing the region’s status as a digital infrastructure hub.
• Boeing’s “Dream” Expansion: Construction began on a $1 billion expansion at the North Charleston Dreamliner facility, adding 1,000 new jobs and securing a long-term future for aerospace manufacturing in the state.
• Port Modernization: The Wando Welch Terminal underwent a $500M modernization, critical for keeping Charleston competitive in global logistics.

If you were marketing a local business in 2025, your “location strategy” likely had to change as the center of gravity shifted.

• Magnolia Development: The massive mixed-use project in North Charleston (4,000 homes + retail on 200 acres) officially became the region’s newest “city within a city”.
• Union Pier Progress: The redevelopment of Union Pier continued to reshape the peninsula’s waterfront, opening up new commercial and green spaces like “The Charles” and St. Mary’s Field.
• PickleRage & The Experience Economy: Experiential retail surged, highlighted by brands like PickleRage opening their first SC locations in North Charleston, proving that “activities” are the new anchor tenants.

The Charleston Regional Development Alliance (CRDA) unveiled “Charleston Inspired,” a 5-year economic plan designed to pivot the region’s brand from “tourism” to “innovation.”

The Goal:

Boost regional earnings by $10 billion by 2040.

The Shift:

This marked a distinct change in how the region markets itself to the world—focusing less on beaches and more on attracting high-value talent.

Proof Points:

We saw this play out with new HQ relocations like Heirloom Cloud and the arrival of AI-healthcare firm Alita, creating a new “tech corridor” narrative.

While big industry boomed, local retail faced a harder reality. A major narrative in 2025 was the struggle of beloved downtown businesses facing rising rents and shifting foot traffic.

Closures vs. Chains:

There was significant community discourse (and Reddit threads) about “Charleston’s Best Businesses Closing,” highlighting a growing divide between heritage local brands and incoming national chains. This created a marketing opportunity for businesses that could authentically claim “locally owned” status.

Despite the high-tech influx, the most effective marketing in 2025 remained deeply local.

• Charleston’s Choice 2025: The continued engagement with the Post and Courier’s voter’s choice awards showed that social proof and community validation are still the most powerful currency for small businesses.
• Steeplechase of Charleston: The event solidified its role not just as a race, but as a premier B2B networking and hospitality venue, demonstrating the continued value of “in-person” marketing in a digital world.